NFL Watch Out, the British Are Coming!

The news that three British players have been picked up either in the NFL Draft or through free agency has a lot of “American” Football and live online betting fans talking this side of the pond. While there have been three British Super Bowl winners in the past, none have been superstars, with kicker Lawrence Tynes the most well-recognized after kicking the New York Giants to two Super Bowls.
Many of the ‘Brits’ in the NFL were born in the UK before moving Stateside as a child. However, in Menelik Watson and Lawrence Okoye we have two born-and-bred representatives of the United Kingdom.

Offensive tackle Watson received plenty of media attention after he was tipped to become the first player from Great Britain to be picked in the first round of the draft. While he didn’t manage to achieve that feat, he was drafted in the second round by the Oakland Raiders, not bad for a man who originally came to the USA to play basketball and only had one college season in Florida.

While the Raiders’ passing unit finished eighth in the regular season rankings, they averaged a fairly pitiful 88.8 yards rushing and will hope Watson’s power can make a whole in the oppositions defense this season. Potentially trying to stop Watson will be Okoye, the man who competed in the discus at the London Olympics and who has never played a game of football. The 21-year-old was picked by the San Francisco 49ers and is expected to play on the defensive line.

Finally we have Tom Wort, the linebacker who was born in the UK but has spent most of his life in the US. He was picked up by the Tennessee Titans as a free agent.

While the latter two in this piece are unlikely to grab the headlines on a regular basis Watson has the potential to be a star. His rookie season will be too early to judge whether he is capable of stepping up to the big time, but that won’t stop us Brits keeping an interested eye on him as the game continues to grow in popularity here in the UK.